bukie

That's good for the USMNT pot 1 chances. Currently ranked 12th, and now only needs to be top 8 to get seeded Also, the intercontinental draw was made, and the 4th place CONCACAF team will play the Oceania team in a playoff. I'm pretty sure someone on the us soccer reddit did the math and is pretty sure that even if everything goes perfectly the US cant end up in Pot 1. But they might not have taken into account a scenario like this USMNT has a 1% chance of jumping into the top 7. However, if Italy doesn't make it, the US just needs to jump into the top 8, which is more likely. If Italy AND Portugal don't make it, they need to jump into the top 9 (leapfrog 3 teams) which is much more likely.

Still rankings for this cycle, with all the pandemic complications. As rankings go, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and Portugal are within 10 points of the USMNT, with the top 7 of Belgium, Brazil, France, England, Argentina, Italy and Spain currently a distance above. To catch them the USMNT is going to need to win 4 or 5 of their remaining qualifiers.

That's good for the USMNT pot 1 chances. Currently ranked 12th, and now only needs to be top 8 to get seeded Also, the intercontinental draw was made, and the 4th place CONCACAF team will play the Oceania team in a playoff.

Couple it with Dest as a winger, anything to generate some offense against the CONCACAF slop.

Chelsea-Juventus UCL match, with both Pulisic and McKennie starting opposite each other. Get hype.

Updated ELO projections for the week in the East: 1. Bulls 52-30 2. Nets 51-31 3. Heat 51-31 4. Bucks 49-33 5. 76ers 49-33 6. Wizards 47-35 7. Hawks 45-37 8. Celtics 42-40 9. Knicks 41-41 10. Hornets 40-42 Effectively, by rating, the Bulls are still barely 5th (#1 is Bucks/Nets/Heat tie at 1591, #4 is 76ers at 1589, #5 is Bulls at 1585...#6 is Hawks at 1552), so it'll be tight all season for where the top 5 seeds all eventually pan out, and if the Wizards can keep up. But Bulls are now at 90% odds to make the playoffs opposed to about 35% by ELO going into the season.

The concerning thing is that their 3 toughest road games are left, and their last cycle includes 2 of them and a home game v Panama, so it'd be nice to have some clearance on qualification going into that. You’d consider at Costa Rica tougher than at Panama at this point? Yes, without a doubt. Never win in Costa Rica and got destroyed by them 5 years ago in the previous qualifying cycle.

The concerning thing is that their 3 toughest road games are left, and their last cycle includes 2 of them and a home game v Panama, so it'd be nice to have some clearance on qualification going into that.

ELO is starting to reflect the hot early starts more, as the Bulls are now projected 5th in the East: 1. Nets 52-30 2. Heat 50-32 3. 76ers 49-33 4. Bucks 48-34 5. Bulls 48-34 6. Wizards 48-34 7. Hawks 43-39 8. Knicks 43-39 9. Pacers 41-41 10. Celtics 40-42

All is now right in the world again, as the US tops the CONCACAF rankings in ELO for the first time in a while: https://www.eloratings.net/CONCACAF 15th overall in the world behind 4 CONMEBOL teams (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay) and 10 UEFA teams (France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, England, Denmark, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands), which seems...about right? Not quite as high on Portugal but everything else checks out.

Spain beats Sweden 1-0 to qualify for the World Cup. Sweden to the playoff. Serbia wins at Portugal 2-1 to qualify for the World Cup. Portugal to the playoff.

Elsewhere in World Cup qualifying: AFC - Qatar is automatically in due to hosting, and midway through the final round, Iran is 8 points clear for qualification with 5 games to play. South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia are in qualifying position, while Japan is currently 3rd in their group, which would leave them having to win 2 playoffs to qualify (against the 3rd place team in the other group, and then one of the other confederation playoff teams from OFC, CONCACAF or CONMEBOL). Yet another reason for the US to finish top 3 and not risk the playoff. CAF - Second round of qualifying finishes up this week, with the 10 group winners advancing to 5 home and home playoffs to determine the 5 World Cup teams. Mali, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco and DR Congo have clinched groups, while Algeria, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and South Africa lead the other groups with 1 to play. All play their closest competition this week in a winner-take-all game, with notable World Cup regulars Cameroon and Ghana facing an uphill battle against Ivory Coast and South Africa, respectively, needing to beat them to reach the next round. CONMEBOL - 13 of 18 qualifying games are complete, with Brazil having already clinched a spot and Argentina well on their way, neither of which have lost a game thus far. Ecuador is currently 4 points clear of the qualification line, and Chile, Uruguay and Colombia are tied for 4th at 16 points, with the top 4 qualifying and the 5th place team going into the intercontinental playoff. OFC - OFC is a mess right now, as all 3 of their qualification plans have fallen through. At this point they're asking FIFA what they can do in March 2022 to figure this out. New Zealand is as close a shoo-in as you can get in this region to a qualified entrant, but no progress has been made as to which team from this confederation can make the intercontinental playoff. UEFA - First round of qualifying finishes this week, with the 10 group winners assured a spot in the World Cup, while the 10 runners up and 2 next best Nations League teams (top 2 Nations League finishers that don't finish in the top 2 qualifying spots) will be set up in three 4-team 2-leg brackets to determine the last 3 spots. France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Croatia have clinched their groups thus far, with England, Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Portugal leading their groups with 1 to play. The 2 lucky Nations league teams will be Austria and then either Czech Republic or Wales (who are in the same group and one will finish 2nd, so the other gets the Nations league spot). Russia and North Macedonia both finished in 2nd place in their groups, and Wales/CR will be a 2nd place team, Scotland clinched 2nd in their group, and Serbia, Poland, Switzerland and Sweden clinched at least 2nd in their groups. The only spots left up in the air at this point are Turkey or Norway in group G (behind Netherlands) and Finland or Ukraine in group D, as Finland hosts Ukraine in the last game there with a 2 point advantage going in. TLDR: World Cup spots clinched: Qatar, Brazil, France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Croatia

I'm going to remain annoyed that the USMNT threw away that Panama game for no reason last month.

Not overly concerned, it was the first game and none of their top 4 scoring options were present. If anything it was one of their few chances this season to get a serious look at the back half of the rotation with some serious minutes, but there is nothing of value to take away in terms of overall team expectations from this one. I'm only worried about the ballhandling for ASU, not the season in total. They've got some decent players and we could end up with an ugly looking loss if neither Trent nor Curbelo can play. I don't think it'll be a problem.

DOS A CERO

Pulisic with help makes me giddy.

Weah over Arriola. Zimmerman at CB next to Robinson Yedlin at RB

Gregg pre-Mexico press conference, so far he's said Pulisic will not start and Steffen will start in goal.

The Bulls might be at the same time really good and still the 5th best team in the East. Could sneak into home court in the first round, but they'll have to beat out one of Miami-Philly-Brooklyn-Milwaukee (and Atlanta and New York).

That was a hideously ugly game. Honestly a bit worried about Arkansas State on Friday if they don't have at least one of Curbelo or Frazier available. Not overly concerned, it was the first game and none of their top 4 scoring options were present. If anything it was one of their few chances this season to get a serious look at the back half of the rotation with some serious minutes, but there is nothing of value to take away in terms of overall team expectations from this one.

Illini get things rolling tonight in the post-Ayo era. Unfortunately, they're also without Cockburn, Curbelo, Frazier and Hutcherson tonight, because of injury and suspension.

One roster spot down, 52 to go. granted, that one is more important than like 95% of the rest of those combined. I wouldn't know. The Bears have never had that spot nailed down for a while now.

One roster spot down, 52 to go.

Honestly I think that FG from the Steelers to go up 6 was the only thing that caused the Bears offense to go for a TD there. If they get the ball back down 3 they play it safe once they get into Steelers territory and get a tying FG, leaving 2 minutes on the clock, and the Bears lose by 3 instead of 2. Still a terrible call, though.

That spike is going to end up leaving the Bears time.